New York Personal Injury Car Insurance

New York personal injury car insurance

Insurance laws are often confusing to the average consumer. If you're new to the state of New York, you may be particularly confused by the rules regarding New York car insurance.

Most states are either "no fault" states or "tort" states. In a no fault state, each party's insurance covers their own injuries, regardless of who is at fault in an accident. No fault states require drivers to carry personal injury insurance (PIP) to cover their injuries in an accident. These states may also require property damage liability insurance, which covers damage you cause to another's property in an accident. Injuries are covered by your PIP insurance, property damage by liability.

In a tort state, one driver is determined to be at fault in an accident, and his insurance pays the other driver's damages, including bodily injury and property damage. These states require that each driver carry liability insurance for both property damage and bodily injury.

New York is considered a "no fault" state -yet it requires that drivers carry both Bodily Injury liability insurance and PIP insurance. While it sounds like a bit of insurance "overkill", there are reasons why the state mandates both types of insurance.

New York's PIP insurance is designed to pay accident injury claims quickly. Because no fault must be established before payment is made, each party in an accident can collect money for medical treatment almost immediately. PIP insurance also covers you against lost wages and pays a death benefit.

Bodily injury liability coverage may take longer to pay. In order for you to collect bodily injury liability payments from the other party's insurance, fault must be established. This process can take time, and may be contested. In addition, bodily injury liability is only required to pay in the event that your medical expenses exceed the amount of your personal injury protection coverage. So, in most cases, you'll never need to file a claim against the other party's bodily injury insurance. It's secondary insurance to make certain that you're covered to higher limits for medical expenses if necessary.

It's important to understand how the two types of coverage work with each other before you purchase New York car insurance. Insurance rates are high in New York, so you may want to consider carefully the amount of Personal Injury insurance you purchase. Buying a very large amount of personal injury protection may not be wise if it raises your premiums significantly, because you also have the protection of the other party's bodily injury liability, should you need it. On the other hand, it's important to remember that if you cause an accident, your PIP insurance will be your only method for recouping your own medical expenses.